The Internet comprises a vast number of computers and computer networks that are interconnected through communication links. The interconnected computers exchange information using various services, such as electronic mail, Gopher, and the World Wide Web (“WWW”). The WWW service allows a server computer system (i.e., a Web server or Web site) to send graphical Web pages of information to a remote client computer system. The remote client computer system can then display the Web pages on a display screen such as a cathode ray tube (“CRT”) or the like. Each resource (e.g., computer or Web page) of the WWW is uniquely identifiable by a Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”). To view a specific Web page, a client computer system specifies the URL for that Web page in a request (e.g., a HyperText Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”) request). The request is forwarded to the Web server that supports that Web page. When that Web server receives the request, it sends that Web page to the client computer system. When the client computer system receives that Web page, it typically displays the Web page using a browser. A browser is a special-purpose application program that effects the requesting of Web pages and the displaying of Web pages on a display screen.
Currently, Web pages are typically defined using HyperText Markup Language (“HTML”). HIML provides a standard set of tags that define how a Web page is to be displayed. When a user indicates to the browser to display a Web page, the browser sends a request to the server computer system to transfer to the client computer system an HTML document that defines the Web page. When the requested HTML document is received by the client computer system, the browser displays the Web page as defined by the HTML document. The HTML document contains various tags that control the displaying of text, graphics, controls, and other features. The HTML document may contain URLs of other Web pages available on that server computer system or other server computer systems.
An important feature of the WWW is the ability to connect one Web page to many other Web pages using “hypertext” links. A link typically appears unobtrusively as an underlined portion of text in a Web page; when the user of this page moves a pointer over the underlined text and clicks, the link—which is otherwise invisible to the user—is executed and the linked Web page is retrieved. It is also not necessary for the retrieved Web page to be located on the same server as the original Web page.
One of the benefits of the WWW is the accessibility of information. Thus, the WWW has become increasingly used to share electronic information between users of the Internet. Similarly, the widespread accessibility and ease of use of the WWW have enabled it to contribute significantly to the growth of electronic commerce.
Web sites offering electronic information to WWW users generally fall into two types, the first of which is a “one-to-many” information distribution system. Electronic information—for example, news articles, short stories, poems, recipes, sports news, computer files, product recommendations, and instructions—are provided on a Web site for distribution to multiple users. Such electronic information may generally be referred to as “articles”. In such “one-to-many” systems, the content of the articles is generated by a single entity, e.g. a newspaper, and available to multiple users. For example, the Web site NYTIMES.COM utilizes a “one-to-many” electronic information distribution system. However, “one-to-many” systems typically do not provide for users of the Web site to communicate with other users of the Web site.
By way of example of a “one-to-many” information distribution system, U.S. Pat. No. 6,078,916 to Culliss on Jun. 20, 2000 discloses a method of organizing information in which the search activity of a user is monitored and such search activity is used to organize articles in a subsequent search.
A second type of Web sites offering electronic information is a “many-to-many” information distribution system. In this type of system, articles are not created by a single entity but rather are created by multiple users and subsequently made available to multiple other users of the Web site. Thus, the “many-to-many” Web site operates as a central point of information sharing between the multiple users of the Web site. For example, the Web site BLOGGER.COM utilizes a “many-to-many” electronic information distribution system. However, “many-to-many” systems typically do not provide incentive, financial or otherwise, for information-providing users to provide information to the Web site; such systems rely on the voluntary provision of information from users. Also, “many-to-many” systems typically do not provide a mechanism by which information-seeking users may gauge the value of the information provided by other users.
Exemplary of a “many-to-many” information distribution system is U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0028469 A1 of Bergman et al. on Feb. 6, 2003, which discloses techniques for enabling an electronic information marketplace between buyers and sellers exchanging information goods.
The present invention is provided to solve these and other problems.